They'll try to apply the rules of the day to the game, where you can't touch your board with your hands, or you can't step off your board, etc and I want nothing to do with it. It's like a game from a different planet or something and it's hard for me to relate to anybody who would think of skateboarding in such a narrow way.

What I do is I take action because I value the position I have, the career I have, the life I live, the people I interact with, my fanbase, my friends, however you want to say that. I value those relationships and I use the opportunities they present to me.

If someone told me I had to give back, or I'm supposed to give back, or I'm supposed to do these things, I would reject that. My actions are those of valuing and caring.

We didn't call it a sport necessarily, and skaters definitely weren't thought of as athletes, we were thought of as misfits.

I grew up with heroes, people who made me aspire to raise my game, to dream bigger and I like to keep it that simple.

If I signed a contract that meant someone else wouldn't be playing.

I don't see masses, I don't see it like, oh there's hundreds of people here and I'm overwhelmed. I just try to think, well I could be a kid in that crowd, or my daughters could be in that crowd, and no one wants to feel like they're just part of the masses.